Search

Collaborative mapping projects, such as OpenStreetMap (OSM), have received tremendous amounts of contributed data from voluntary participants over time. So far, most research efforts deal with data quality issues, but the OSM evolution across space and over time has not been noted. Therefore, this study is dedicated to the evolution of the contributed information in order to understand an emergent phenomenon of so-called collaborative contributing. The main objective of this paper is to monitor the evolutional pattern of OSM and predict potential future states through a cellular automata (CA) model. This is exceedingly relevant for numerous OSM-based applications. Descriptive spatiotemporal analysis of the contributions for the time period 2007–2012, using the city of Heidelberg (Germany) as a case study, reveals that early contributions are given three years after the launching of OSM, while after nearly six years, most of the areas are discovered. The simulation results for the validated CA model, predicting OSM states for 2014, provide clear evidence that most of the areas have been explored three years after people began mapping until 2010, and thereafter, the densification process has begun and will cover most parts of the city although the amount of contribution depends on the land use types.

The increasing availability of sensor devices has resulted in important volumes of sensor data, which has raised the issue of making these data fully discoverable and interpretable by applications and end-users. The idea of OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) has addressed this issue by proposing a set of standards to enable accessibility of sensor data over the Web. Similarly, there is a growing interest in volunteered geographic information (VGI). Considering that several researchers have highlighted the potential of this new type of information as a complement to existing, “traditional” data, it becomes important to develop frameworks to support the integration of VGI from several sources and with other types of data. In this paper, we make a first step in this direction by proposing a framework for the semantic interoperability of sensor data and VGI. After having performed an investigation of the types of VGI applications, we have developed a conceptual model of VGI aligned with relevant ISO standards for describing geospatial features. The purpose of this model is to support the generation of common descriptions for VGI applications, which will act as interfaces to higher-level services, such as discovery and reasoning services, in order to be exploited in conjunction with sensor data by client applications. This process is described through architecture for semantic interoperability of sensor data and VGI that we have developed and that we intend to use to set guidelines for future research on integration of VGI in sensor data cyberinfrastructures. We illustrate the possibilities created by the proposed framework with a description of the various services and interfaces required to implement the framework.

Sensors play an increasingly critical role in capturing and distributing observa- tions of phenomena in our environment. The vision of the semantic sensor web is to enable the interoperability of various applications that use sensor data provided by semantically heterogeneous sensor services. However, several challenges still need to be addressed to achieve this vision. More particularly, mechanisms that can support context-aware seman- tic mapping and that can adapt to the dynamic metadata of sensors are required. Semantic mapping for the sensor web is required to support sensor data fusion, sensor data discov- ery and retrieval, and automatic semantic annotation, to name only a few tasks. This pa- per presents a context-awareontology-based semantic mediation service for heterogeneous sensor services. The semantic mediation service is context-aware and dynamic because it takes into account the real-time variability of thematic, spatial, and temporal elements that describe sensor data in different contexts. The semantic mediation service integrates rule- based reasoning to support the resolution of semantic heterogeneities. An application sce- nario is presented showing how the semantic mediation service can improve sensor data interpretation, reuse, and sharing in static and dynamic settings.

Remote sensing techniques have eased land use/cover mapping substantially by observing the earth remotely through diminishing field surveying and in-site data collection. However, field measurement is still required to identify training sites for defining the existing land use classes, which requires visiting the study area. This paper is intended to utilize volunteered geographic information (VGI) contributions to the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project as an alternative data source instead of gathering training sites through insite visits and to evaluate how accurate land use patterns can be mapped. High resolution imagery of RapidEye with 5 meter spatial resolution is selected to derive land use patterns of Koblenz, Germany through a maximum likelihood classification technique. The achieved land use map is compared with the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Urban Atlas (GMESUA) and a Kappa Index of 89% is achieved. The outcomes prove that VGI can be integrated within remote sensing processes to facilitate the process of earth observation and monitoring.

Nutritional research in sickle cell disease has been the focus in recent times owing to not only specific nutritional deficiencies, but also the improvements associated with less painful episodes. Though hydroxyurea remains the drug of choice, certain adverse health effects on long term supplementation makes room for researches of different compounds. Macro and micro nutrient deficiencies, along with vitamins, play an important role in not only meeting the calorific needs, but also reducing clinical complications and growth abnormalities. Symptoms of hyper protein metabolism, increased cell turnover, increased cardiac output, and appetite suppression due to enhanced cytokine production, might give us leads for better understanding of the mechanisms involved. Different nutritional approaches comprising of traditional herbal therapies, antioxidants, flavonoids, vitamins, minerals etc., reducing oxidative stress and blood aggregation, have been tried out to increase the health potential. Nutritional therapies may also serve complementary to the newer therapies using ozone, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, antifungal medications, erythropoietin etc. Herein we try to present a holistic picture of the different patho-physiological mechanisms, and nutritional strategies adopted.

Background Serum preβ1-high density lipoprotein (preβ1-HDL) was defined by two-dimensional non-denaturing linear gel electrophoresis and apolipoprotein A-I immuno-blotting. Serum preβ1-HDL seems to play an important role in reverse cholesterol transport, a well-known anti-atherosclerosis process. However, there are still debatable questions for its quantification and coronary artery disease (CAD) relevance. Methods We isolated the preβ1-HDL using a new native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) system and lipid pre-staining serum. We established a two-demensional gel electrophoresis system. Results We measured the preβ1-HDL in Tangier disease patients and subjects with cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP) mutation. The preβ1-HDL is clearly separated from lipid-free apoA-I monomer and cannot be converted into other HDL particles under lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) inhibition. This preβ1-HDL is a spheroidal particle with the highest apoA-1/cholesterol ratio and highest density (≥1.21 g/ml), as compared with all other HDLs. Importantly, we found that serum from subjects with Tangier disease or with cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP) mutation have no detectible preβ1-HDL particles. We recruited a total of 102 subjects underwent diagnostic coronary angiography and measured their preβ1-HDL levels. Among them, 56 had no stenosis of coronary artery and 46 were diagnosed as CAD, which was predefined as the presence of a luminal diameter stenosis ≥50 % in at least 1 major coronary artery territory. We found that preβ1-HDL is independently and negatively associated with the severity of the coronary artery stenosis (Gensini score). Conclusion We established a novel and simple method for human serum preβ1-HDL quantification. We found that human lower preβ1-HDL is an independent predictor for severer coronary artery stenosis.

It is generally acknowledged that the urban environment presents different types of risk factors, but how the structural effects of areas influence the risk levels in neighboring areas has been less widely investigated. This research assesses the local effects of burglary contributory factors on burglary over small areas in a large metropolitan region. A comparative framework is developed for analyzing the effects of geographic dependence on burglary rates, and for assessing how such dependence conditions the community context and the urban land use. A local indicators spatial autocorrelation analysis assesses burglaries over five years (2011–2015) to identify risk clusters. Thereafter, effects of different variables (e.g., unemployment, building density) on burglary frequency are estimated in a series of regression models while controlling for changes in the risk levels of nearby surrounding areas. Results uncover strong evidence that the configuration of the surroundings influences risk. After controlling for area-based interaction, patterns are identified that contrast with the previous literature, such as lower burglary frequency in areas with higher tenancy in social housing units. Together the findings demonstrate that the spatial arrangement of areas is as crucial as contextual crime factors, particularly when assessing the risk for small areas.

Contributing reviewers We and the Editorial Board sincerely acknowledge and thank all the reviewers for their active participation and contribution during 2015 (Volume 12). We greatly appreciate their dedication and behind the scenes contribution. It is largely due to their support and expertise that we have been able to publish high standard manuscripts. We would also like to thank authors for choosing Nutrition & Metabolism and contributing their cherished work to this journal.

Microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) is essential for the assembly of lipoproteins. MTP has been shown on the surface of lipid droplets of adipocytes; however its function in adipose tissue is not well defined. We hypothesized that MTP may play critical role in adipose lipid droplet formation and expansion. Plasmids mediated overexpression and siRNA mediated knockdown of Mttp gene were performed in 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes to evaluate the effects of MTP on cell differentiation and triglyceride accumulation. Adipose-specific knockdown of MTP was achieved in mice bybreeding MTP floxed (Mttp fl/fl ) mice with aP2-Cre recombinase transgenic mice. Adipose-specific MTP deficient (A-Mttp -/- ) mice were fed 60 % high-fat diet (HFD), and the effects of MTP knockdown on body weight, body fat composition, plasma and tissues lipid composition, glucose metabolism, lipogenesis and intestinal absorption was studied. Lipids were measured in total fasting plasma and size fractionated plasma using colorimetric assays. Gene expression was investigated by Real-Time quantitative PCR. All data was assessed using t-test, ANOVA. MTP expression increased during early differentiation in 3T3-L1 cells, and declined later. The increases in MTP expression preceded PPARγ expression. MTP overexpression enhanced lipid droplets formation, and knockdown attenuated cellular lipid accumulation. These studies indicated that MTP positively affects adipogenesis. The ablation of the Mttp gene using aP2-Cre (A-Mttp -/- ) in mice resulted in a lean phenotype when fed a HFD. These mice had reduced white adipose tissue compared with wild-type Mttp fl/fl mice. The adipose tissue of A-Mttp -/- mice had increased number of smaller size adipocytes and less macrophage infiltration. Further, these mice were protected from HFD-induced fatty liver. The A-Mttp -/- mice had moderate increase in plasma triglyceride, but normal cholesterol, glucose and insulin levels. Gene expression analysis showed that the adipose tissue of the A-Mttp -/- mice had significantly lower mRNA levels of PPARγ and its downstream targets. These data suggest that MTP might modulate adipogenesis by influencing PPARγ expression, and play a role in the accretion of lipids to form larger lipid droplets. Thus, agents that inactivate adipose MTP may be useful anti-obesity drugs.

Large volumes of geospatial data are increasingly made available through dynamic networks, such as ad hoc networks. Consequently, new adapted query propagation approaches that take into account geospatial aspects of data are needed. Different existing query propagation approaches use various criteria to select relevant sources. In addition, many approaches rely on existing semantic mappings between sources; however, in ad hoc networks, sources move autonomously and in a dynamic fashion. Our goal is rather to reduce the number of sources that must be accessed to answer a query and, therefore, to reduce the volume of semantic mappings that needs to be computed to answer the query. In this paper, we propose three real time query propagation strategies to address this issue. Those strategies reproduce the behavior of members of a social network. The strategies are designed to be part of a real time semantic interoperability framework for ad hoc networks of geospatial databases. The strategies have been formalized with the Lightweight Coordination Calculus (LCC), which support distributed interactions based on social norms and constraints. The implementation and testing of the strategies show that they complement each other to provide optimal query answers.

The rapidly expanding field of bioactive lipids is exemplified by the many sphingolipids, which are structurally and functionally diverse molecules with significant physiologic functions. These sphingolipids are main constituents of cellular membranes and have been found associated with plasma lipoproteins, and their concentrations are altered in several metabolic disorders such as atherosclerosis, obesity, and diabetes. Understanding the mechanisms that regulate their biosynthesis and secretion may provide novel information that might be amenable to therapeutic targeting in the treatment of these diseases. Several sphingolipid synthesis genes have been targeted as potential therapeutics for atherosclerosis. In recent years, significant progress has been made in studying the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in lipid metabolism. However, little effort has been made to investigate their role in sphingolipid metabolism. Sphingolipid biosynthetic pathways involve various enzymes that lead to the formation of several key molecules implicated in atherosclerosis, and the identification of miRNAs that regulate these enzymes could help us to understand these complex pathways better and may prove beneficial in alleviating atherosclerosis.

Studies showed conflicting results for the association of circulating proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) with glycemic parameters and risk of type 2 diabetes. Whether plasma levels of PCSK9 could directly influence vascular function is still unclear. The present study aims to

Background Liver dysfunction is a topic of global concern with many advancing therapies being researched. Though vitamin D takes a center place, other therapies especially nutritional are also gaining ground. Vitamin D has gone beyond its role in skeletal disorders by showcasing its associations in other metabolic dysfunctions too. Result Epidemiological evidences show a correlation between the status of vitamin D and different forms of cancer. Vitamin D receptors and alterations in gene expression appear decisive in the development of chronic liver disorders. Nutritional status therefore plays a significant role in avoiding the complications related to liver dysfunctions, making it mandatory in maintaining vitamin D sufficiency in the body. Therapies with omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, amino acids, steroids also render benefits which could be further explored. Recent research on the progression of certain forms of liver cancer using vitamin D analogs like Seocalcitol EB 1089 has shown good promise. Conclusion The anti-inflammatory and immuno- regulatory properties of vitamin D makes its analogs, suitable candidates of better choice for the prevention and treatment of liver disorders and cancer.

Semantic similarity is a fundamental notion in GIScience for achieving semantic interoperability among geospatial data. Until now, several semantic similarity models have been proposed; however, few of these models address the issues related to the assessment of semantic similarity in ad hoc networks. Also, several models are based on a definition of concepts where features are independent, an assumption that reduces the richness of the geospatial concept representation. This article presents the conceptual basis for Sim-Net, a novel semantic similarity model for ad hoc networks based on Description Logics (DL). Sim-Net is based on the multi-view paradigm. This paradigm is used to include inferential knowledge in semantic similarity, that is, the knowledge about implicit dependencies between features of concepts. In Sim-Net, assessing semantic similarity relies on the notions of Semantic Reference Systems and Formal Concept Analysis (FCA), which are combined to establish a common semantic reference frame for ontologies of the ad hoc network called the view lattice. The Sim-Net semantic similarity measure distinguishes concepts that belong to different or similar domains and takes into account the neighbours of a concept in the network. An application example is used to show the positive impact of the properties of Sim-Net.

Background. Functional abnormalities of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) could contribute to cardiovascular disease in chronic kidney disease patients. We measured a validated marker of HDL dysfunction, nitrated apolipoprotein A-I, in kidney transplant recipients to test the hypothesis that a functioning kidney transplant reduces serum nitrated apoA-I concentrations.Methods. Concentrations of nitrated apoA-I and apoB were measured using indirect sandwich ELISA assays on sera collected from each transplant subject before transplantation and at 1, 3, and 12 months after transplantation. Patients were excluded if they have history of diabetes, treatment with lipid-lowering medications or HIV protease inhibitors, prednisone dose > 15 mg/day, nephrotic range proteinuria, serum creatinine > 1.5 mg/dL, or active inflammatory disease. Sera from 18 transplanted patients were analyzed. Four subjects were excluded due to insufficient data. Twelve and eight patients had creatinine < 1.5 mg/dL at 3 and 12 months after transplantation, respectively.Results. Nitrated apoA-I was significantly reduced at 12 months after transplantation (p=0.039). The decrease in apoA-I nitration was associated with significant reduction in myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity (p=0.047). In contrast to apoA-I, nitrated apoB was not affected after kidney transplantation.Conclusions. Patients with well-functioning grafts had significant reduction in nitrated apoA-I 12 months after kidney transplantation. Further studies are needed in a large cohort to determine if nitrated apoA-I can be used as a valuable marker for cardiovascular risk stratification in chronic kidney disease.

Disaster response actors and decision makers need to perform several tasks and decisions in a short time. Handling such tasks requires access to sufficient, relevant and up-to-date datasets. Some of these datasets are static such as road network infrastructure and map of buildings. While several other kind of required information are dynamic and change during the occurrence of disaster. Such information may include number of casualties, wind speed, wind direction, road obstacles, etc. Semantic integration of various sources of information is the key to making efficient and fast actions by the actors in the filed as well as top-level decision makers. In this paper, we elaborate on the research challenges of data integration from multiple heterogeneous sources by proposing the system architecture of ASSIST (Access, Semantic Search and Integration Service and Translation). The paper concludes with discussing the future work on this smart service.

Recent studies indicated that protective function of HDL may be more representative than its concentration. Apolipoprotein AI (apoAI), the major protein of HDL, is nitrosylated in vivo to nitrated apoAI (NT-apoAI) that might cause dysfunction. We measured plasma NT-apoAI and apoAI levels in 777 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) by ELISA, and found that median NT-apoAI/apoAI ratio was significantly higher in diabetes mellitus (DM) (n=327) versus non-diabetic patients (n=450). Further analysis indicated that DM, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances and C-reactive protein levels were independent predictors of higher NT-apoAI/apoAI ratio. There was negative correlation between NT-apoAI/apoAI and use of anti-platelet and lipid lowering drugs. The cholesterol efflux capacity of plasma from 67 individuals with differing NT-apoAI but similar apoAI levels from macrophages in vitro was negatively correlated with NT-apoAI/apoAI ratio. In conclusion, higher NT-apoAI/apoAI ratio is significantly associated with DM in this relatively large German cohort with CAD and may contribute to associated complications by reducing cholesterol efflux capacity.

Microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) transfers neutral lipids and is essential for the assembly of apolipoprotein B (apoB)-containing lipoproteins by the liver and the small intestine. To determine whether MTP plays a role in adipocyte maturation and lipid metabolism, we used 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. MTP expression and activity transiently increased during early stages of differentiation, and declined later. The increases in MTP expression preceded the expression of PPARγ. Overexpression of MTP enhanced lipid droplet formation in 3T3-L1 cells, and its knockdown attenuated cellular lipid accumulation. These studies indicated that MTP positively affects cellular adipocyte differentiation and adipogenesis. Adipose-specific Mttp gene ablated ( A-Mttp -/- ) mice were lean and had reduced white adipose tissue after feeding a high-fat diet (HFD) compared with wild-type ( Mttp fl/fl ) mice. The adipose tissue of A-Mttp -/- mice had increased number of smaller size adipocytes and had less macrophage infiltration as compared with Mttp fl/fl mice. Further, these mice were protected from HFD-induced fatty liver. The A-Mttp -/- mice had moderate increase in plasma triglyceride, but normal cholesterol, glucose and insulin levels. Gene expression analysis showed that the adipose tissue of the A-Mttp -/- mice had significantly lower mRNA levels of PPARγ and its downstream gene targets FAS and FABP4 and lipins. These data suggest that MTP might modulate adipogenesis by influencing PPARγ expression, and plays a role in the accretion of lipids to form larger lipid droplets. Thus agents that inactivate adipose MTP may be useful anti-obesity drugs.

Geotagged photos on social media like Flickr explicitly indicate the trajectories of tourists. They can be employed to reveal the tourists’ preference on landmarks and routings of tourism. Most of existing works on routing searches are based on the trajectories of GPS-enabled devices’ users. From a distinct point of view, we attempt to propose a novel approach in which the basic unit of routing is separate road segment instead of GPS trajectory segment. In this paper, we build a recommendation system that provides users with the most popular landmarks as well as the best travel routings between the landmarks. By using Flickr geotaggged photos, the top ranking travel destinations in a city can be identified and then the best travel routes between the popular travel destinations are recommended. We apply a spatial clustering method to identify the main travel landmarks and subsequently rank these landmarks. Using machine learning method, we calculate the tourism popularity of the road in terms of relevant parameters, e.g., the number of users and the number of Point-of-Interests. These popularity assessments are integrated into the routing recommendation system. The routing recommendation system takes into consideration both the popularity assessment and the length of the road. The best route recommended to the user minimizes the distance while including maximal tourism popularity. Experiments were conducted in two different scenarios. The empirical results show that the recommendation system is able to provide the user good travel planning including both top ranking landmarks and suitable routings in a city. Besides, the system offers user-generated semantic information for the recommended routes.

Ponencias, comunicaciones y pósters presentados en el 17th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science "Connecting a Digital Europe through Location and Place", celebrado en la Universitat Jaume I del 3 al 6 de junio de 2014. Land use inventories are important information sources for scholarly research, policy-makers, practitioners, and developers. A considerable amount of effort and monetary resources have been used to generate global/regional/local land use datasets. While remote sensing images and techniques as well as field surveying have been the main sources of determining land use features, in-field measurements of ground truth data collection for attributing those features has been always a challenging step in terms of time, money, as well as information reliability. In recent years, Web 2.0 technologies and GPS-enabled devices have advanced citizen science (CS) projects and made them user-friendly for volunteered citizens to collect and share their knowledge about geographical objects to these projects. Surprisingly, one of the leading CS projects i.e., OpenStreetMap (OSM) collects and provides land use features. The collaboratively collected land use features from multiple citizens could greatly support the challenging component of land use mapping which is in-field data collection. Hence, the main objective of this study is to calculate the completeness of land use features to OSM across Europe. The empirical findings reveal that the completeness index varies widely ranging from almost 2% for Iceland to 96% for Bosnia and Herzegovina. More precisely, more than 50% of land use features of eight European countries are mapped. This shows that CS can play a role in land use mapping as an alternative data source, which can partially contribute to the existing inventories for updating purposes.

Ponencias, comunicaciones y pósters presentados en el 17th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science "Connecting a Digital Europe through Location and Place", celebrado en la Universitat Jaume I del 3 al 6 de junio de 2014. Spatio-temporal data models deal with capturing information characterized by both spatial and temporal semantics. In this paper we review current approaches for spatio-temporal data modelling and present out initial results for selecting the most relevant approach: Object-Oriented modeling for means of modeling geo-tagged shipping information. The shipping information is provided by the well-known LLLOYD’s lists dataset. We have introduced the case study and dataset characteristics used in the research project and presented our data model in Unified Modeling Language (UML). The model focuses on spatio-temporal events where characteristics are categorized as thematic, spatial and temporal attributes. The paper follows up with discussion on the selected approach and results, and finally ends with presenting the future outlook.

Background: Functional abnormalities of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and elevated concentration of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) could contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. Both qualitative and quantitative changes in HDL have been described in patients with CKD. Specifically, HDL abundance is reduced and HDL acquires a pro-inflammatory properties. In this study, we hypothesized that a functioning kidney transplant reduces serum nitrated apoA-I concentration. Methods: Concentrations of nitrated apoA-I, nitrated apoB, total apoA-I and total apoB were measured using indirect sandwich ELISA on sera collected from each transplant subject pre-transplant and at 1, 3, and 12 months post-transplant. Patients were excluded if they had a history of diabetes, prednisone dose > 15 mg/day, nephrotic range proteinuria, serum creatinine (Cr) > 1.5mg/dL or active inflammatory disease, or were treated with lipid-lowering medication or HIV protease inhibitors. Paired values of percent nitrated Apo A-I or nitrated apoB before and after kidney transplantation were compared using Wilcoxon signed rank sum test. Results: We screened 75 transplant patients, and 14 were found to meet the selection criteria. Amongst these patients, twelve and eight patients had Cr < 1.5 mg/dL at 3 and 12 months post-transplant, respectively. There was a significant reduction in % nitrated apoA-I at 12 months post-transplant compared to pre-transplant values in patients with Cr1.5. Reduction of nitrated apoA-I was associated with slight increase in HDL levels 12 months post-transplantation. In contrast to apoA-I, there was no significant change in % nitrated apoB at 3 months and 12 months post-transplant. No significant corelation was observed between nitrated lipoproteins and CRP levels. Conclusion: Patients with well functioning grafts had significant reduction in percent nitrated apoA-I without any effect on apoB nitration 12 months after kidney transplantation. Further studies are needed in a large cohort to determine if nitrated apoA-I can be used as a valuable marker for cardiovascular risk stratification in CKD.

Semantic interoperability is needed to support meaningful data exchanges in distributed environments such as ad hoc networks of geospatial databases and geospatial web services. Even with the increasing popularity of ontologies to capture semantics, semantics of geospatial data are often too weak to support meaningful exchanges. In this chapter, the authors argue that semantically weak geospatial data can be enriched to enhance semantic interoperability. They propose a conceptual architecture designed to support enhanced semantic interoperability in dynamic networks that focuses on semantic enrichment. The proposed conceptual architecture includes a coalition management module, an ontology enrichment module, and a semantic mapping module; the modules perform different types of semantic enrichment and can support various semantic interoperability tasks. Within the different enrichment methods, the authors explain the role of global ontologies, arguing that they play a key role in a semantic interoperability framework. Finally, the authors illustrate with an application example the possibilities of such architecture.

Disaster management requires that various geospatial data producers and users collaborate in an ad hoc manner, despite their different backgrounds and contexts. While semantic interoperability is meant to support meaningful sharing of geospatial data, semantic interoperability approaches that were designed for static and closed environments, or that do not address the particularities of geospatial data, are not suitable for supporting disaster management. In this paper, we present the Real-Time-CPAR prototype for enabling real time semantic interoperability in ad hoc network of geospatial databases that can answer the needs of disaster management. The prototype comprises four main services for discovering coalitions of geospatial databases; semantic enrichment; semantic reconciliation of heterogeneous databases and propagation of geospatial queries. We demonstrate how this tool can contribute to disaster management.

Apolipoprotein B (apoB) and microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) are known to interact with each other. We evaluated the effect of different lipids on the protein-protein interactions between MTP and apoB100 or its C-terminally truncated forms. Negatively charged lipids decreased protein-protein interactions between apoB and MTP. In contrast, zwitterionic phospholipids enhanced (2–4-fold) the binding of apoB100 to MTP by increasing affinity (1.5–3-fold) between these proteins without affecting the number of binding sites. Similarly, phospholipids augmented (1.5–4-fold) the binding of various C-terminally truncated apoB peptides to MTP. The increased binding was greater for apoB peptides containing lipid-binding domains, such as apoB28 and apoB42. Surprisingly, preincubation of apoB28 with lipid vesicles had no effect on MTP binding. In contrast, incubation of MTP with lipid vesicles resulted in a stable association of MTP with vesicles, and MTP-lipid vesicles bound better (5-fold increase) to LDL than did lipid-free MTP. To determine whether MTP exists stably associated with lipids in cells, microsomal contents from COS cells expressing MTP, HepG2 cells, and mouse liver were ultracentrifuged, and MTP was visualized in different density fractions. MTP was found associated and unassociated with lipids. In contrast, apoB17 and apoB:270–570 were present unassociated with lipids in COS cells. These studies show that the binding of MTP to lipids results in increased affinity for apoB and that stable MTP-lipid complexes exist in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum. Protein-protein interactions between apoB and MTP may juxtapose lipids associated with MTP to lipid-binding domains of apoB and facilitate hydrophobic interactions leading to enhance affinity. We speculate that MTP-lipid complexes may serve as nuclei to form “primordial lipoproteins” and may also play a role in the bulk addition of lipids during the “core expansion” of these lipoproteins.

Apolipoprotein B (apoB) and microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) are essential for the efficient assembly of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. Evidence has been presented for physical interactions between these proteins. To study the importance of apoB-MTP binding in apoB secretion, we have identified a compound, AGI-S17, that inhibited (60-70% at 40 microM) the binding of various apoB peptides to MTP but not to an anti-apoB monoclonal antibody, 1D1, whose epitope overlaps with an MTP binding site in apoB. AGI-S17 had no significant effect on the lipid transfer activity of the purified MTP. In contrast, another antagonist, BMS-200150, did not affect apoB-MTP binding but inhibited MTP's lipid transfer activity. The differential effects of these inhibitors suggest two functionally independent, apoB binding and lipid transfer, domains in MTP. AGI-S17 was then used to study its effect on the lipid transfer and apoB binding activities of MTP in HepG2 cells. AGI-S17 had no effect on cellular lipid transfer activities, but it inhibited coimmunoprecipitation of apoB with MTP. These studies indicate that AGI-S17 inhibits apoB-MTP binding but has no effect on MTP's lipid transfer activity. Experiments were then performed to study the effect of inhibition of apoB-MTP binding on apoB secretion in HepG2 cells. AGI-S17 (40 microM) did not affect cell protein levels but decreased the total mass of apoB secreted by 70-85%. Similarly, AGI-S17 inhibited the secretion of nascent apoB by 60-80%, but did not affect albumin secretion. These studies indicate that AGI-S17 decreases apoB secretion most likely by inhibiting apoB-MTP interactions. Thus, the binding of MTP to apoB may be important for the assembly and secretion of apoB-containing lipoproteins and can be a potential target for the development of lipid-lowering drugs. It is proposed that the apoB binding may represent MTP's chaperone activity that assists in the transfer from the membrane to the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum and in the net lipidation of nascent apoB, and may be essential for lipoprotein assembly and secretion.

The microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) is essential for the hepatic secretion of apolipoprotein (apo) B-containing lipoproteins. Previous studies have indicated that inhibition of MTP results in decreased apoB plasma levels and decreased hepatic triglyceride secretion. However, the metabolic effects of overexpression of MTP have not been investigated. We constructed a recombinant adenovirus expressing MTP (AdhMTP) and used it to assess the effects of hepatic overexpression of MTP in mice. Injection of AdhMTP into C57BL/6 mice resulted in a 3-fold increase in hepatic microsomal triglyceride transfer activity compared to mice injected with Adnull. On day 4 after virus injection, AdhMTP-injected mice had significantly elevated plasma TG levels as compared to control virus (Adnull)-injected mice. Hepatic TG secretion rates were significantly greater in AdhMTP-injected mice (184 ± 12 mg/kg/h) compared with Adnull-injected mice (65 ± 9 mg/kg/h, P < 0.001). In addition, hepatic very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) apoB secretion in the AdhMTP-injected group was 74% higher than in the control virus group. Hepatic secretion of apoB-48 and apoB-100 contributed equally to this increase. These results provide the first data that hepatic overexpression of MTP results in increased secretion of VLDL-triglycerides as well as VLDL-apoB in vivo. These results suggest that MTP is rate-limiting for VLDL apoB secretion in wild-type mice under basal chow-fed conditions.— Tietge, U. J. F., A. Bakillah, C. Maugeais, K. Tsukamoto, M. Hussain, and D. J. Rader. Hepatic overexpression of microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) results in increased in vivo secretion of VLDL triglycerides and apolipoprotein B. J. Lipid Res. 1999. 40: 2134–2139.

▪ Abstract The low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor (LDL-R) family consists of cell-surface receptors that recognize extracellular ligands and internalize them for degradation by lysosomes. The LDL-R is the prototype of this family, which also contains very-low-density lipoprotein receptors (VLDL-R), apolipoprotein E receptor 2, LRP, and megalin. The family members contain four major structural modules: the cysteine-rich complement-type repeats, epidermal growth factor precursor-like repeats, a transmembrane domain, and a cytoplasmic domain. Each structural module serves distinct and important functions. These receptors bind several structurally dissimilar ligands. It is proposed that instead of a primary sequence, positive electrostatic potential in different ligands constitutes a receptor binding domain. This family of receptors plays crucial roles in various physiologic functions. LDL-R plays an important role in cholesterol homeostasis. Mutations cause familial hypercholesterolemia and premature coronary artery disease. LDL-R–related protein plays an important role in the clearance of plasma-activated α2-macroglobulin and apolipoprotein E–enriched lipoproteins. It is essential for fetal development and has been associated with Alzheimer's disease. Megalin is the major receptor in absorptive epithelial cells of the proximal tubules and an antigenic determinant for Heymann nephritis in rats. Mutations in a chicken homolog of VLDL-R cause female sterility and premature atherosclerosis. This receptor is not expressed in liver tissue; however, transgenic expression of VLDL-R in liver corrects hypercholesterolemia in experiment animals, which suggests that it can be a candidate for gene therapy for various hyperlipidemias. The functional importance of individual receptors may lie in their differential tissue expression. The regulation of expression of these receptors occurs at the transcriptional level. Expression of the LDL-R is regulated by intracellular sterol levels involving novel membrane-bound transcription factors. Other members of the family are not regulated by sterols. All the members are, however, regulated by hormones and growth factors, but the mechanisms of regulation by hormones have not been elucidated. Studies of these receptors have provided important insights into receptor structure-function and mechanisms of ligand removal and catabolism. It is anticipated that increased knowledge about the LDL-R family members will open new avenues for the treatment of many disorders.

We have standardized simple but sensitive enzyme-linked immunoassays to understand a relationship between intracellular levels and secretion rates of apoB. The assays were based on commercially available antibodies and were specific to human apoB. A monoclonal antibody, 1D1, was immobilized on microtiter wells and incubated with different amounts of low density lipoproteins to obtain a standard curve. Conditioned media were added to other wells in parallel, and the amount of apoB was quantitated from a linear regression curve. To standardize conditions for the measurement of intracellular apoB, cells were homogenized and solubilized with different concentrations of taurocholate. We found that 0.5% taurocholate was sufficient to solubilize all the apoB in HepG2, Caco-2, and McA-RH7777 cells. Next, a standard curve was prepared in the presence of taurocholate and used to determine intracellular levels of apoB in different cell lines. The intracellular levels (pmol/mg cell protein) and the rates of secretion (pmol/mg/h) of apoB100 were positively correlated (r 2=0.81, P=0.0009) in HepG2 cells. Furthermore, a positive correlation (r 2=0.88, P

As periodic wildfires in the southern California, USA, or the Fukushima Daiici nuclear disaster have shown, man-made and natural disasters might make human areas or regions (temporarily) inhabitable or the safety of inhabitants might be threatened severely, and the evacuation of this area required. One major decision in facing disasters is whether to evacuate or not. Criteria for making that decision on a civil defence level are: the time available for evacuation, the socio-economic situation, the warning systems available, the severity and time evolution of the thread, and so on, and so forth. One major question is whether the available safe evacuation time (ASET) is larger than the required safe evacuation time (RSET). Another one is the feasibility traffic patterns that will result from an evacuation warning. The method presented in this paper is able to determine the RSET.

The rapidly growing number of crowdsourcing platforms generates huge volumes of volunteered geographic information (VGI), which requires analysis to reveal their potential. The huge volumes of data appear as an opportunity to improve various applications, including routing and navigation services. How existing techniques for dealing with Big Data could be useful for the analysis of VGI remains an open question, since VGI differs from traditional data. In this paper, we focus on examining the latest developments and issues associated with big data from the perspective of the analysis of VGI. This paper notably presents our new architecture for exploiting Big VGI in event service processing in support to optimization of routing service. In addition, our study highlights the opportunities that are created by the emergence of Big VGI and crowdsourced data on improving routing and navigation services, as well as the challenges that remain to be addressed to make this a reality. Finally, avenues for future research on the next generation of collaborative routing and navigation services are presented.

Evaluating the quality of geospatial dataset is an important aspect that needs to be considered in order to improve the quality of results in any project. This issue has become even more critical these days due to the ever growing platforms and services that produce and share Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) in the world wide domain. In this paper, we introduce the architecture of QualEvS4Geo; a web processing service for evaluating the quality of geo-data in Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). QualEvS4Geo is supposed to utilize a wide range of technologies, tools and knowledge bases in order to hamper interoperability between various services, each of which evaluating geo-datasets based on a certain data quality element and sub-element. This paper proposes a peer-to-peer infrastructure for enabling a universal geo-data quality evaluation service, which will enable end-users with different needs in various application domains to evaluate their geo-datasets through a single interface. Requirements are derived, the system architecture is proposed and implementation aspects are discussed.

Use of relevant geo-information is one of the important issues for performing different tasks and processes in disaster response phase. In order to save time and cost, services could be employed for integrating and extracting relevant up-to-date geo-information. For this purpose, semantics of geo-information should be explicitly defined. This paper presents our initial results in applying an approach for semantic annotation of existing geo-datasets. In this research the process of injecting semantic descriptions into geodatasets (information integration) is called semantic annotation. A web system architecture is presented and the process of semantic annotation is presented by using the Meta-Annotation approach. The approach is elaborated by providing an example in disaster response which utilizes geo-datasets in CityGML format and further two languages of semantic web technology: RDF and Notation3.

Contributing reviewers We and the Editorial Board acknowledge and thank all reviewers for their active participation and contribution during 2012. We greatly appreciate their dedication and behind the scenes contribution. It is largely due to their support and expertise that we have been able to publish high-standard manuscripts. We would also like to thank authors for choosing Nutrition & Metabolism and contributing their cherished work.

Large scale disasters often create the need for evacuating affected regions to save lives. Disaster management authorities need evacuation simulation tools to assess the efficiency of various evacuation scenarios and the impact of a variety of environmental and social factors on the evacuation process. Therefore, sound simulation models should include the relevant factors influencing the evacuation process. More specifically, to be reliable in critical situations, evacuation simulations must integrate information on time-varying phenomena that can affect the evacuation process, such as the impact of meteorological conditions, road incidents, or other relevant events. Sensor networks constitute an efficient solution for gathering data on such events and feeding the evacuation simulation. However, the coupling of sensors with multi-agent simulation tools is not straightforward. In this chapter, we present a publish/subscribe system based on Event Calculus to support real-time multi-agent evacuation simulations. The system identifies relevant events from sensor data gathered through a Sensor Event Service that implements the OGC SWE standards and the Event Pattern Markup Language (EML). Then, the publish/subscribe system acts as a middleware between the Sensor data publishers and the multi-agent evacuation simulation through a Sensor Processing Service based on Event Calculus that infers the impact of events on the characteristics of the road network. The result is an evacuation simulation that can be deployed to assess various evacuation scenarios in real-time, during the crisis response.

A large number of applications have been launched to gather geo-located information from the public. This article introduces an approach toward generating land-use patterns from volunteered geographic information (VGI) without applying remote-sensing techniques and/or engaging official data. Hence, collaboratively collected OpenStreetMap (OSM) data sets are employed to map land-use patterns in Vienna, Austria. Initially the spatial pattern of the landscape was delineated and thereafter the most relevant land type was assigned to each land parcel through a hierarchical GIS-based decision tree approach. To evaluate the proposed approach, the results are compared with the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Urban Atlas (GMESUA) data. The results are compared in two ways: first, the texture of the resulting land-use patterns is analyzed using texture-variability analysis. Second, the attributes assigned to each land segment are evaluated. The achieved land-use map shows kappa indices of 91, 79, and 76% agreement for location in comparison with the GMESUA data set at three levels of classification. Furthermore, the attributes of the two data sets match at 81, 67, and 65%. The results demonstrate that this approach opens a promising avenue to integrate freely available VGI to map land-use patterns for environmental planning purposes.

Since diabetic microangiopathy and macroangiopathy are characterized by type IV collagen accumulation in vascular basement membranes, it was of interest to study type IV collagen production and type IV collagenase secretion by endothelial cells (EC) cultured in high glucose and to evaluate the role of protein kinase C (PKC) activation in the alterations induced by high glucose. Primary cultures of human umbilical vein EC were exposed to high glucose concentration for 3 days at the beginning of confluence. The number of EC decreased with glucose concentration from 5 to 50 mM. At 16.7 mM glucose concentration, the amount of type IV collagen, determined by a two-step ELISA, increased in the culture supernatant and in the insoluble fraction associated with the extracellular matrix and cells; proline incorporation was more markedly elevated in the collagenous than in the total proteins of the culture supernatant and of the extracellular matrix and cell extracts. Gelatin zymography of the culture supernatant showed that EC mainly produce a 72-kDa gelatinase known to degrade type IV collagen. At 16.7 mM glucose concentration, total gelatinase activity per millilitre of culture supernatant was reduced and the 72-kDa gelatinase activity measured on the zymogram scan was lowered. When EC were exposed to 16.7 mM glucose, the specific PKC inhibitor GF 109203X corrected the increases in type IV collagen concentration and in proline incorporation into the collagenous or total proteins present in the culture supernatant or in the extract of the insoluble fraction, including the extracellular matrix and cells. Our results show that soluble and insoluble type IV collagen accumulation by EC cultured at high glucose concentration is not only associated with increased synthesis of the collagenous and total proteins but also with decreased total 72-kDa gelatinase activity in the extracellular fluid. The observed effects of GF 109203X are in favour of the involvement of PKC activation in the type IV collagen accumulation.Key words: human umbilical vein endothelial cells, high glucose, type IV collagen, type IV collagenase, protein kinase C inhibitor

Diabetic microangiopathy is characterized by a thickening of capillary basement membranes associated with type IV collagen accumulation. An increase in type IV collagen content of the aortic wall is also observed in macroangiopathy. In order to analyse the importance of the polyol pathway in the development of the collagen metabolism alterations seen in diabetic angiopathy and their prevention by aldose reductase inhibitors, we have studied the effects of sorbinil on the high glucose-induced stimulation of type IV collagen biosynthesis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Primary cultures were exposed to high glucose (16.7 mmol/l), with and without 0.11 mmol/l sorbinil, for 3 or 6 days after beginning of confluence. We measured the soluble type IV collagen secreted into the culture medium and the insoluble type IV collagen accumulated in the extracellular matrix and cells, by ELISA. We also studied [14C]proline incorporation into the newly synthesized collagenous and total proteins in the culture supernatant and in the extracellular matrix and cell fraction. High glucose decreased the number of cells and increased the amount of type IV collagen in the culture supernatant and in the extracellular matrix and cell fraction. It also increased proline incorporation into the newly synthesized collagenous and total proteins in the culture supernatant and in the extracellular matrix and cell fraction. Sorbinil corrected all these high glucose-induced alterations. The corrective effects of sorbinil on the proliferation and on type IV collagen metabolism of endothelial cells cultured in high glucose may be attributed to prevention of polyol pathway dysregulation.

Chylomicrons are lipoproteins synthesized exclusively by the intestine to transport dietary fat and fat-soluble vitamins. Synthesis of apoB48, a translational product of the apob gene, is required for the assembly of chylomicrons. The apob gene transcription in the intestine results in 14 and 7 kb mRNAs. These mRNAs are post-transcriptionally edited creating a stop codon. The edited mRNAs chylomicrons from the shorter apoB48 peptide remains to be elucidated. In addition, the roles of proteins involved in the assembly pathway, e.g. apobec-1, MTP and apoA-IV, needs to be studied. Cloning of enzymes involved in the intestinal biosynthesis of triglycerides will be crucial to fully appreciate the assembly of chylomicrons. There is a need for cell culture and transgenic animal models that can be used for intestinal lipoprotein assembly. The catabolism of chylomicrons is far more complex and efficient than the catabolism of VLDL. Even though the major steps involved in the catabolism of chylomicrons are now known, the determinants for apolipoprotein exchange, processing of remnants in the space of Disse, as well as the mechanism of uptake of these particles by extra-hepatic tissue needs further exploration.

Large scale disasters often create the need for evacuating affected regions to save lives. Disaster management authorities need evacuation simulation tools to assess the efficiency of various evacuation scenarios and the impact of a variety of environmental and social factors on the evacuation process. Therefore, sound simulation models should include the relevant factors influencing the evacuation process and allow for the representation of different levels of detail, in order to support large scale evacuation simulation while also offering the option of considering factors operating at a finer level of detail, such as at the single individual level. In particular, the impact of social factors, such as interaction between agents, should be integrated into the simulation model to reflect the reality of evacuation processes. In this paper, we present a generic data model for agent-based evacuation simulation that includes the relevant social parameters identified in the emergency literature. The model is composed of three sub-models that describe the agents, their context and behaviour, the dynamic environment in which the agents evolve and the parameters of the evacuation scenario. The objective of this model is to improve the simulation so that it can be better represent reality.

Collagen IV accumulation is characteristic of diabetic angiopathy. To test the possible contribution of GH, we studied its effects on collagen IV production by human umbilical vein endothelial cells at 5.5 and 16.7 mmol/l glucose. GH (100 ng/ml) markedly increased collagen IV level in the culture supernatant and in the insoluble extracellular matrix and cell fraction at both glucose concentrations. This stimulating effect of GH was additional to that of high glucose. It was more pronounced on collagen IV than on total protein synthesis. GH increased free latent gelatinase activity slightly at normal and markedly at high glucose. Using GF109203X, a PKC inhibitor, we observed that high glucose, but not GH, activated PKC. These two factors stimulating collagen IV production appear to work through different pathways, favoring an additivity of their effects. This supports the contribution of high plasma GH in diabetic vascular basement membrane thickening.